Ophthalmic stands of various kinds have been used by ophthomologists for many years. Prior to the present time, it was common practice to arrange different instruments and examination chairs or stools at different locations in an operatory. This required both the doctor and the patient to move to such locations and resulted in interruptions in the examination of a patient and also was time-consuming.
In more modern practice of ophthomology, it is more common for both the doctor and patient to remain in chairs which are substantially in fixed positions in the operatory opposite each other and respective to a number of the examination instruments movable to and away from the patient. To accomplish this it is possible to mount a number of different instruments on a post upstanding from a suitable base and of which prior U.S. Pat. No. 1,494,666 to Clement, dated May 20, 1924 is an examaple of an older type, and prior U.S. Pat. No. 2,149,141 to Hunsicker, dated Feb. 28, 1939, shows a further variation of another older type.
Prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,201,795 to Cuppers et al, dated Aug. 17, 1965, illustrates a still further effort at consolidating examination instruments available at a single position of both doctor and patient and in which different instruments are brought into operative position by rotating an arm assembly to which the instruments respectively are connected.
A still more recent proposal comprises the subject matter of prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,572,913 to Korh et al, dated Mar. 30, 1971, in which a circular arrangement of instruments is movable around a patient seated in a stationary chair.
It now has become popular to support ophthalmic examination instruments upon a horizontal table supported by a cabinet-like base from which a post projects to support certain instruments, while others are supported upon the table which is positionable over the lap of a patient seated upon a chair which, for example, can be raised and lowered to adjust the height of a patient relative to the eyepieces of certain instruments. Prior U.S. Pat. No. 978,299 to Jacobs, dated Dec. 13, 1910, shows an example of the first type and U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,394 to Schon et al, dated Dec. 20, 1983, shows an example of the second type.